English Abstract

Superhydrophobic Microstructure Imprinted Rubber Sheet by Hot Vulcanization Press

Yuji HIRAI *1
Riku TAMURA *1
Satoshi EMOTO *1
Masatsugu SHIMOMURA *1
Yasutaka MATSUO *2
Takahiro OKAMATSU *3
Toshihiko ARITA *4
*1:Chitose Institute of Science and Technology, Chitose, Hokkaido, Japan
*2:RIES, Hokkaido university, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
*3:THE YOKOHAMA RUBBER CO., LTD, Hiratsuka, Kanagawa, Japan
*4:IMRAM, Tohoku university, 2-1-1, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
Nippon Gomu Kyokaishi,(2017),90(6),277-282 Original Paper in Japanese

There are a lot of functional surfaces in nature, for example, a superhydrophobic surface of lotus leaves. Although there have been various artificial superhydrophobic surfaces, those are difficult to use in daily purposes because those have been built on brittle, stiff and breakable materials. In this report, we have focused on durable hydrophobic material of a vulcanized rubber, and attempted to prepare durable superhydrophobic surfaces by forming micro-structures on rubber surfaces. The surface micro-structured silicon molds were prepared by common lithographical techniques. Unvulcanized rubber was put on the silicon molds, and then pressed and vulcanized at 180 for 10 min. After peeling off from the silicon mold, vulcanized rubber surfaces were observed by field emission scanning electron microscope. Water contact angles and sliding angles on the vulcanized rubber surfaces were analyzed with 1.5 μL purified water droplets. As the results, micro pincushion arrays were successfully formed on the surfaces of the vulcanized rubbers with quite small defect and those surfaces showed superhydrophobicity. Furthermore, the structure of the micro pincushion arrays was not damaged by multiple elongations. The sliding angles were decreased with increasing degree of stretching of superhydrophobic micro-structured rubbers.

Keywords: Biomimetics, Superhydrophobic, Vulcanized Rubber, Microstructure, SEM, Water Contact Angle